WELA women are from all ages, stages and walks of life – strategists, organisers, campaigners, volunteer coordinators, lawyers, CEOs, communicators and much more. Together, this growing community is transforming Australia’s response to our environmental and climate crises.
Since 2016, we have supported the leadership development of more than 240 women and gender diverse people working across multiple sectors.
WELA programs offer a transformative leadership experience that has led to increased influence and confidence of participants, resulting in greater impact for our environment.
Since their participation in a WELA program many alumni have reported significant outcomes for our environment from their work, and others have moved into new positions or secured promotions for greater impact for our environment and climate.
Since completing a WELA program, our alumni have gone on to influence some of Australia’s most important and strategic campaigns and projects for our environment such as:
Our community extends from Darebin VIC to Denmark WA, and from grassroots communities to global corporations.
Active participants have reported greater connection and support, and inspiration to take on new leadership challenges for our environment.
WELA women are stepping forward into formal and informal leadership positions in government, business, NGOs, the media, academia, on boards and in community groups. They are paid and unpaid leaders in the following organisations and more.
WELA has enabled me to take all I thought impossible to challenge in the system and and reframe it to make me feel powerful and capable of making change.
WELA has opened up a plethora of key sector areas required to achieve the bigger goals. I’m on a steep learning curve. Actually I didn’t know what I didn’t know. WELA and the amazing leaders and women have certainly enlightened me to seek collective knowledge to share with community.
WELA was absolutely transformative for me. I learned so much on so many environmental political and leadership topics, laughed and danced, and met and spent time with some serious legends of the Australian feminist and environment movements, and felt placed in a network of powerful women around the country working to reimagine environmental leadership, and get stuff done. It coincided so beautifully and significantly with the major success on forests in 2021* and I’m enormously grateful to everyone who makes WELA possible. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
*In 2021, WAFA won their decades-long campaign to save WA native forests from logging.